I Will Love You Better Now
by tin2lo
Summary: A series of drabbles depicting the evolution of some events, each based on an Ed Sheeran song. Slight plotline that goes from the curse onwards and moves from canon to non-canon and mostly does not take into account seasons 3B and 4. Featured ships include: Snowing, Swanfire, Outlaw Queen, and others later on.
1. Homeless

_Could you make it any clearer?  
><em>_Everything's such a blur  
><em>_It's not my turn, it's hers to get hurt_

There were times when Regina would ask herself if it was all worth it. Chasing Snow White around the forest, kidnapping her true love, not repenting when they were willing to give her a second chance…was it all worth it to see Snow White feel her pain? Sometimes Regina would hear her father in her mind and the answer would be no. It's not worth it. But then her memories of Daniel would leave her lying awake at night and so the answer would change. Yes, it would be in the end.

So she cast a curse that sent everyone in the Enchanted Forest to a land without magic or happy endings. Because it would be worth it. And for a while it was. Snow White and Prince Charming were separated and true love could not prevail. They didn't have their kingdom, they didn't have their memories, and they didn't have their daughter. All they had was what she had given them in this Podunk little town in nowhere, Maine.

And so for the first time, the Evil Queen had won. She wasn't the one hurt. It was Snow White's turn to feel pain.


	2. Grade 8

_I'll never keep it bottled up and left to the hands of the coroner  
>Be a true heart not a follower, we're not done yet<em>

Henry Mills was not an average boy. For a while this bothered him. He had an adopted mother who hated him and he had no idea why. And then on the flip side, why did his real mother not want him? It wasn't until he read a book of fairytales that he finally accepted the circumstances of his life. He was actually proud of his heritage. How could anyone be ashamed when they have Snow White and Prince Charming for grandparents and the Savior for a mother?

Although Henry was thankful for an explanation to why he was so different from the other children, it was still hard to stay strong. Emma wouldn't believe him when he talked about the curse and her being the savior. But he held strong in his beliefs and held faith in his mother. She needed him just as much as he needed her and he wasn't about to let her down.

Emma may have been the Savior but Henry had the Heart of the Truest Believer. And with that heart held truly powerful magic. It made him stronger than David, more compassionate than Mary-Margaret, more powerful than Regina or Gold, and the key to the heart of the Savior. So no, Henry Mills was not an average boy. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.


	3. One Night

_Oh well, she's a local girl  
>No make-up 'cause she knows me well<br>Hair tied up in elastic band  
>With a kiss on the cheek for her one night man<em>

Emma Swan didn't get attached. Or at least she tried not to. She didn't save many items and she most certainly didn't pine after any man. So why did she waste years of her life with Neal Cassidy? She had to admit, the Bonnie and Clyde act was pretty fun. At least until he got her arrested.

"Close your eyes and point. Whatever spot you pick is our home."

"Tallahassee."

He had lied to her. He had left her. There would be no Tallahassee and no man would ever be allowed into her heart ever again.

So after Neal, Emma just went on with her life all alone. She didn't need anyone anyway. Like she told Mary-Margaret, whatever relationships she did have didn't last longer than a night. She would actually be able to say that she was an expert at one night stands where Mary-Margaret was a failure.

But when Neal was abruptly dropped back into her life, Emma told herself that she had fallen out of love with him. If Neal wanted something with her, it would only last from when the sun went down to when it came up. Just like the rest of them. But that's not what he wanted because he was still in love with her. Neal had told her this several times but she didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to believe that the man who left still felt that way for her.

And besides, she had fallen out of love with him. He was nothing more than Henry's father to her. She wasn't going to get attached to him anymore than that because she didn't love him.

Unfortunately, the keychain around her neck and the yellow bug said otherwise.


	4. Runaway

_How long you leavin'?  
>Well dad, just don't expect me back this evening<br>Oh it'll take a bit of time to heal this  
>It's been a long day, thumb on the side of the roadway<em>

Running away had to run in the family. Specifically, running away _from _the family ran in the family. And yet everyone always came back to each other.

"I will always find you…" Yeah, no lie.

It didn't matter what the circumstances were. Their family always seemed to separate before they could come together. How many times were Snow and Charming separated in the Enchanted Forest only to find each other once more? Their love was so good at finding each other that not even death could keep them apart.

But it doesn't stop there. Neal had traveled worlds for _years _just to get away from his father. Only to be brought back to the man to be with _his own _son.

Emma's parents sent her through a wardrobe to never see her for 28 years. But she too came back to them after being found by Henry and dragged to Storybrooke.

And lord only knows how many times Henry ran away from Regina for one reason or another.

It was a bad habit that the family really should break. Neal promised himself that he would. No more abandoned children or torn apart lovers. Starting now…

He was on a pretty good start. He would take Henry back to New York and protect him from Cora and Regina. He would try and make up for the decade he lost. His son wouldn't grow up without a father. And Henry had agreed…at least until…

"Did you really fall for that? He's _your _son."

"He's running."

Running away didn't just run in the family. It was practically a tradition.


	5. Give Me Love

_And that I'll fight my corner, maybe tonight I'll call ya  
>After my blood turns into alcohol<br>No I just wanna hold ya_

Alcohol was a good thing sometimes. When taken in careful doses, it could (as Regina put it) conjure courage, give strength, or even act as a love potion of sorts. But in unhealthy doses, it floods the body so quickly that you don't know where alcohol ends and blood begins.

As unhealthy as it was, Hook found it more appealing to be drunk and numb than sober and in pain. For years after Milah's death a flask of rum would be Hook's first choice of a friend. "A one handed pirate with a drinking problem" as Pan had called him. Not the most inaccurate way to describe him. So after losing his love, fighting the fight, and losing that too…alcohol was always a relief to his system.

For Emma, a bottle of champagne, a shot of whiskey, or even a cup of Regina's "apple cider" was a way to get through a problem she didn't feel like dealing with. That's how she dealt with her first conversation with Regina and how she got over the fact that her parents were fairytale characters.

Neal wasn't much of a drinker. When he did it was mostly in celebration of something. Meeting Emma, reuniting with Emma, returning to Storybrooke…a cup of bear in celebration was all he needed. But even so, it did fill some void that he didn't realize he had. Because sharing a beer with the pirate he had looked up to as a child did give him a feeling of being cared for.

And Neal had been missing that for a while. Hook had been missing it too. And if Emma tore down her walls for just a second, she'd realize that's all she wanted as well. Maybe if they weren't busy drowning in alcohol, they'd realize all they wanted was to be given love.

But even so, being drunk made them all forget about the stupid little love triangle they were stuck in and the fights that would surely come because of it. If only they'd want to stay sober enough to figure out how to get out of it. Maybe then there would be less pain and maybe the cycle of drinks would end.

Ruby really shouldn't wait until three drinks to try and stop them.


	6. Cold Coffee

_Tell me if I know, tell me if I do  
>Tell me how to fall in love the way you want me to<em>

Sometimes Killian wondered why he chased after a woman who could possibly never love him back. It was pathetic. Didn't he used to harass those types of men? Maybe it was the challenge. The idea of conquering the heart of someone so closed off from love. That had to be what made it appealing.

But after watching Emma travel worlds to be with or save her son, after the Neverland experience, and even while in Storybrooke, Killian could feel that he had no place in her heart.

He liked to think that some of the things he did would put him in her good graces. But nothing ever seemed to be enough. Her walls were too high and Killian just didn't know how to break them. Was she still in love with Baelfire? Or maybe she only wanted to devote her love to her son. Or maybe her father was right. Emma could never want him.

After 300 years and dodging death attempts by the crocodile, Cora, and a mechanized vessel from this land of no magic, Killian Jones was proud to say he was a survivor.

But Emma Swan would be his destruction. Killian knew he'd need to destroy himself, change almost completely, to even stand a chance with her. And he just wasn't sure if he'd be able to survive that.

Killian didn't particularly want to change, let alone know how to. Then again, Emma didn't really want or know how to let the walls down.

So how was he supposed to love a woman who didn't know how to be loved?


	7. Don't

_Don't fuck with my love, this heart is so cold  
>All over my home, I don't wanna know that babe<em>

They fought a lot. More often than any couple really should. Killian argued he'd changed for her in ways he never thought he would (or should've). Emma argued back that it wasn't enough, he hadn't really changed, and proceeded to throw his past sins back in his face. Emma said he was trying too hard to make them work. Killian said she wasn't trying enough.

There was a lot of back and forth and more often than not, it ended with them not really knowing where to go from there. Then the next day would come and they would pretend like nothing happened even though the fight would be the only thing on their minds.

They weren't quite sure what had happened to them as a couple. They started off well enough. It was always an uphill battle but at least they were trying and (for the most part) succeeding. But now trying seemed like too much work. The more they tried, the more frustrated they'd get, and another fight would begin.

Both were tired of pretending to understand each other. Maybe they did at one point. But now all they understood was that they almost couldn't stand the other. They were both tired of fighting and having their love toyed with.

Because of that, it was no surprise that when Emma left to look for comfort and solace she found her way back to Neal. And when Killian left to look for the same, he found his way back to the drinks provided at Granny's. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing because while he was heavily intoxicated, he could pretend he was back at that tavern where he first met Milah. The beautiful brunette behind the counter almost convinced him his fantasy was real.

But when daylight came and Emma chose one man over the other, Killian just accepted it. He wasn't her chosen one and he was fine with that. Because Killian could make the same choice as well. The next night Killian would choose to stay sober and he would learn that the brunette behind the counter knew a thing or two about dead lovers and dark pasts.

Maybe this time, for both Emma and Killian, it wouldn't just be a lover to burn, but instead something different. Because God knows they needed it.


End file.
